Brigadier General William Hull (June 24, 1753 – November 29, 1825) was an American army officer and politician. A veteran of the American Revolutionary War, he later served as governor of the Michigan Territory (1805–1813), where he negotiated land cessions with Native Americans through the Treaty of Detroit in 1807. Hull is most widely remembered as the general in the first months of the War of 1812 (1812–1815) who surrendered Fort Detroit to the British Army on August 16, 1812, ending the siege of Detroit.
Following the siege, he was paroled by the British and returned east, but court-martialed, convicted, and sentenced to death in a military court trial by the United States Army and the U.S. War Department, but later received a pardon from fourth President and military commander-in-chief James Madison (1751–1836, served 1809–1817), so his military and personal reputation somewhat recovered. He was assigned to several other commands in the next two years of the war, before the 1815 peace Treaty of Ghent and return to the pre-war status quo with the British.
Contents
Early life and education
Hull was born on June 24, 1752, in Derby, Connecticut, then part of the Connecticut Colony. He graduated from Yale College (now Yale University) in 1772 and initially studied religion at his parents' behest. However, he soon shifted his focus to law, studying in Litchfield, Connecticut, and gaining admission to the bar in 1775.
Hull's legal career was interrupted by the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. He joined the local militia (likely the Connecticut Line), quickly rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel due to his leadership skills.
Career
American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
At the outbreak of fighting in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), Hull joined a local militia and was quickly promoted to captain, then through the ranks to lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army. He fought in the following battles of the Revolutionary War: White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Stillwater, Saratoga, Fort Stanwix, Monmouth, and Stony Point. He was recognized by commanding General George Washington (1732–1799), of the Continental Army and also by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Independence Hall in the temporary capital city of Philadelphia for his service.
Hull was a friend of the famous patriot Nathan Hale and tried to dissuade him from the dangerous spy mission that ultimately cost him his life at the young age of 21, when he was caught and hung by the British (as spying was considered a violation of the laws of war). Hull was largely responsible for making known and publicizing the famous last words attributed to Hale, "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.", one of the most famous historical quotes in American history.
At the conclusion of the war, Hull was admitted as an original member of The Society of the Cincinnati in the state of Massachusetts when it was established at the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783.
After the war, he moved to his wife's family estate in Newton, Massachusetts and served as a judge and served in the upper chamber of the General Court of Massachusetts (state legislature) of the Massachusetts Senate as a state senator. Six years after the war, he was elected captain of the veterans organization Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts in 1789.
Michigan Territory Governor (1805-1813) and War of 1812 (1812-1815)
On March 22, 1805, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Hull as Governor of the recently created Michigan Territory and as its Indian Agent. All of the territory was in the hands of the Indians except for two enclaves around Detroit and Fort Mackinac, so Hull worked to gradually purchase Indian land for occupation by American settlers. He negotiated the Treaty of Detroit in 1807 with the Odawa, Chippewa, Wyandot, and Potawatomi tribes, which ceded most of Southeast Michigan and northwestern Ohio to the United States, to the mouth of the Maumee River where Toledo developed. These efforts to expand American settlement began to generate opposition, particularly from Shawnee leaders Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa, who urged resistance to American culture and to further land cessions.
By February 1812, Congress was making plans for war with Great Britain, including an invasion of Canada, while the British were busy recruiting Indian tribes in the Michigan and Canada area. Hull was in Washington, D.C., when 6th U.S. Secretary of War William Eustis (1753–1825, served 1809–1813), informed him that President James Madison wished to appoint him a Brigadier General in command of the newly organized Army of the Northwest. Hull at this point, was nearly 60 years old and had little interest in a new military command, so Colonel Jacob Kingsbury was selected to lead the force instead. Kingsbury however, fell ill before taking command, and the offer was repeated to Hull, who then accepted. His orders were to go to Ohio, whose Governor had been charged by President Madison with raising a 1,200-man militia United of Ohio men that would be augmented by the regular Army United of the 4th Infantry Regiment from duty at Vincennes in the Indiana Territory, to form the core of the Northwest Army. From there, he was to march the army to Fort Detroit where he was also to continue managing the surrounding region, of the Michigan Territory as territorial governor south and west of the Great Lakes and along the poorly undefended northern international border with British Canada.
Hull arrived in Cincinnati on May 10, 1812, and took command of the militia at Dayton on May 25. The militia comprised three regiments who elected Duncan McArthur, Lewis Cass, and James Findlay as their commanding Colonels. They marched to Staunton and then to Urbana, Ohio, where they were joined by the 300-man 4th Infantry Regiment. The men of the militia were ill-equipped and little trained, averse to strong military discipline. Hull relied on the regulars to maintain discipline among the militia during the march.On June 15, 1812, Hull's force of over 2,000 men departed Urbana for Detroit. Rain and difficult terrain slowed their progress, and they did not reach the rapids of the Maumee River until June 29.
Later life and death
Hull lived the remainder of his life in Newton, Massachusetts with his wife Sarah Fuller. He wrote Detroit: Defence of Brig. Gen. Wm. Hull in 1814 and Memoirs of the Campaign of the Northwestern Army of the United States: A.D. 1812, published in 1824 and both attempting to clear his name. Some later historians have agreed that he was unfairly made a scapegoat for the embarrassing loss of Detroit. The publication of his Memoirs in 1824 changed public opinion somewhat in his favor, and he was honored with a dinner in Boston on May 30, 1825. That June, the Marquis de Lafayette visited him and declared, "We both have suffered contumely and reproach; but our characters are vindicated; let us forgive our enemies and die in Christian love and peace with all mankind." Hull died at home in Newton several months later, on November 29, 1825.
His son Abraham was an Army captain during the War of 1812 and died at the Battle of Lundy's Lane at age 27. His remains were buried in the Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls, Ontario, the only American officer to be buried there. Hull was also uncle to Isaac Hull, son of his brother Joseph. Joseph died while Isaac was young, so Hull adopted the boy. Isaac commanded the USS Constitution during the War of 1812.